Adding to your Vocabulary

Dear Brantley ~

Your two words you kept repeating today were "hello" and "tongue." You would put your toy remote control to your ear like a phone and say "hewo" over and over. So cute! Then I was working with you on your Your Baby Can Read cards and you were loving the Tongue card. Every time I would show you that one you said "Tug" and would stick out your tongue.

You and Asher are getting better at playing together. I love it!

I Love You So Much!!

Mommy

Sand and Water... That's Momma's Boy!!

Dear Brantley~

You absolutely LOVE being outside! So this morning I took you out and let you play for a long time. You almost always head straight to your sandbox. You climbed in and began playing. Bentley hopped in there, too, and stayed with you the entire time.

The only problem with you and the sandbox is that you always want to pick up a handful if sand and drop it out in the grass. You'll do it over and over again until we make you stop... which is as soon as we realize you're doing it.

After your nap you wanted to go out again, so I smothered you in sunscreen and let you go again. You played in the sandbox for quite awhile. I was cleaning the outdoor cushions. When I took them to the side of the house to the waterhose you chased after me. You were acting silly and playful, so I barely squirted you with the hose. You laughed so hard!! So I squirted you a little more. This went on until you were dripping wet. You were so cute! You and I were both laughing so hard and having so much fun! It was awesome!!!

I dove a little further into the book The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian today. I have prayed hard for you every day since before you were even conceived, but from now on I will be praying a little differently. I hope to cover every aspect of your life in prayer so the devil never has a chance to slide his way in.

I Love You So Much!

Momma

Moon Sand and Fuzzy Balls

Dear Brantley ~

Today I tried two new things with you. One was an overwhelming success! First I made moon sand. You just wanted to pick it up and drop it on the floor outside the box. So that didn't last long. So then I gave you some fuzzy balls and an empty juice jug. You played...

And played...

And played...

Also, this morning on the phone you told Nana "I Yub Ü." You totally melted her heart!!

I Love You So Much!!

Momma

Oh My Love...

Dear Brantley~

You stole my heart. Completely. I thought your daddy had all of it, but you came along and stole it. And somehow Asher did the same. I don't know how all three of you can fully have it at the same time, but you do. This morning you were your usual precious self. I got you out of bed by singing the Good Morning song that I always sing to you in the mornings (Good morning! Good morning! You slept the whole night through. Good morning! Good morning to you! Boop... boop boo do!). You grinned from ear to ear like you always do. You had been playing up there for about 45 minutes when I went up to get you. You woke up, made some noise to let us know, and then you just played in your crib. You were in such a good mood. When I walked in the door I saw one reason why. Bentley was in there sleeping on the big bed. She has gotten to where she loves to sleep up there with you. You love it, too. And so do I! I think it's so sweet that she wants to be with you like that, and I think it's so sweet that you want her there. I can only imagine how precious it will be when you have a bed that she can get in with you.

You played while I got our tax information together to take to the tax preparer. You, Asher, Daddy, and I all left to go to the air base to get our taxes done. You and Asher sat there quietly the whole time we were getting our taxes done. You made us so proud! Then again, you always do. When we were leaving the people working there kept commenting about how good y'all were the whole time. That is always so awesome to hear.

When we got home you went out front with me and played in the garage while I pulled out the miter saw and cut some wood I needed to make some planter boxes so I can get my herbs planted this year. When Asher got up from his nap Daddy took both of you out back. Asher sat in his bouncy seat while you played around in the yard and the mud. You got filthy, but it was so cute! You have SO MUCH fun playing outside! I love watching you! We stayed outside for a few hours. Finally I took you in, fed you supper, gave you a bath, got you to sleep, and took you to your bed. About 30 minutes later, though, you woke up and would not quit crying this horrible cry. I could tell something was wrong (I don't know if it was a bad dream or if your new tooth coming through was hurting you), so I brought you downstairs. Asher woke up about the same time, so daddy got him. We sat out on the back deck (it was an absolutely beautiful night) in the rocking chairs, daddy rocking Asher and me rocking you. Asher went to bed first. You stayed there with me for a couple of hours. I finally had to get you back to your bed. It took me a long time to do it, though, because you were so content cuddled up on my lap with a soft blanket over both of us. Every once in awhile you would just look up at me and look deep into my eyes. Like I said, you stole my heart! I will never be able to explain to you just how incredible it feels to hold you in my arms like that. When I finally took you back to bed I sat next to your bed for a long time. You laid there with your face up against the slats just staring at me. After about 10 minutes you rolled over, but you were still awake. I started praying over you, and I could hear you drifting off to sleep. By the time I finished you were sound asleep. Stole. My. Heart!

I Love You So Much!!! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Mommy

Another Tooth!!

Dear Brantley ~

I discovered a new tooth on you today!! It's the one just to your left of your top left front tooth. Every new tooth gives your smile a whole new look. I love the adventure with the teeth (although I don't like the pain you have to go through with each one). I'll try to get a pic for you when I can, but you don't like for me to look at it right now. 

You are such a good little tooth brusher. You get so excited when it's time to brush your teeth. You always let me brush them first, then you grab the brush and chew on it for awhile and suck the rest of the toothpaste off. You smile and giggle the whole time.

You got your belly filled up on leftover chicken spaghetti, so it's time (actually passed time) to get you to bed. You have a big day of school tomorrow! Your favorite bedtime books right now are Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss and Llama Llama Nighty Night. I usually read them to you in that order. I may try putting Asher in there with you again tonight. We'll see how this goes. :-)

I Love You So Much!

Mommy

Outside at School and Messy at Home

Dear Brantley ~

Today was a school day for you, and your teacher said you had a great day! I can't remember her name. It's Miss Jolie and Mrs. Kasey's mom. You've been real shy with her ever since you moved up to her class. Today she said you really started breaking out of that shyness. It was a beautiful day, so you got to be outside quite a bit. You attempted the slides on your own today, and you loved them!! She said you got pretty confident and started to go after the bigger slide, but she stopped you because she was afraid you would hurt yourself. I was so excited to hear you were having a lot of fun and coming out of your shell!

When I got you home I decided to let you have a little messy fun. We started by me painting your hands green and doing a handprint St. Patrick's Day shamrock craft. Since that left me with a lot to clean up I decided we'd just continue the mess. I got out a bowl of Jello I had made a few days ago and I put it on your highchair tray. At first you were very careful with it like you normally are.

Then you started to realize that I was going to just let you have fun.

Then you really started getting with it and having a ball.

I decided, why not add supper to the fun? So I plopped some chicken spaghetti down for you. I gave you a spork, but you had no interest in using it since you were getting to have fun with it.

And this was the final result before I rushed you to the tub for a nice, long bath.

I'd say you had a good time! Haha! We played and played in the bath, and you had a blast in there as well. Overall I'd say you had an awesome day! Let's see what fun we can get into tomorrow!

I Love You So Much!!

Mommy

Mommy & Me

Dear Brantley ~

You and I go to a Mommy & Me dance class on Friday mornings at Page & Co. in Cabot. Liz Coker teaches it, and Addison is always there. You're always the youngest one, and you're the only boy, so you are pretty shy in the beginning. You won't let go of me for the first 10-15 minutes, and it's only a 30 minute class. By the end you start getting more comfortable and you start to have some fun. Today you held onto my legs as I walked across the room to put my phone and keys down and then back. Mrs. Liz took a pic of you because it was so cute. 

By the end, though, you were having fun going through the tunnel.

You're still trying to learn how to feed yourself with a spoon. Today you were trying for awhile, then you just got frustrated and started sticking your hand in your mashed potatoes to feed yourself with you hands. Haha!

I Love You So Much, Sweet Pea!!

Mommy